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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Buster Fiddess? A fiddle player who busted a string?

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Buster Fiddess
Upper body shot of a man slightly turned and looking at his dog. He wears a white shirt and bow tie. Behind him are bushes. The dog is facing forward with jaws open.
Fiddess with his singing dog, Jake, 1948.
Born
Leslie Anderson

1913 or 1914
Australia
Died(1972-01-14)14 January 1972 (age 58 or 59)
Collaroy, New South Wales, Australia
Other namesBuster Fiddes, Buster Fiddis
OccupationsVaudevillian, comedian, actor, acrobat
Years active1936 (1936)–1972 (1972)
Known forThe Bobby Limb Show
Spouse
Iris Cattach
​
(m. 1939)​

Buster Fiddess (born Leslie Anderson c. 1914 – 14 January 1972) was an Australian comedian, best known for his work in vaudeville (1936–1958) and television variety shows (1957–1972). He was described as a "rubber-faced" actor,[1] who "wore tails and walked like a mechanically wound-up man, with a straight back and straight, long, fair hair".[2] He won the Best Comedian category at the Logie Awards of 1961 for the The Bobby Limb Show (alongside its host, Bobby Limb).

Biography

[edit]

Buster Fiddess was born as Leslie Anderson,[3] in 1913 or 1914.[4] He started his entertainment career in a circus.[5] By March 1936 he was performing in a duo, the "Fiddes Brothers", which were an eccentric dancing and tumbling act in Mildura's Green Mill dance hall and then at vaudeville shows in Brisbane in July and August.[6][7][8] In October of that year, Joshua Fiddes (aged 25) and Buster Leslie Fiddes (22), were working in Sydney at the notorious dance-cabaret Graham's Club ("a law unto itself") in Hunter Street.[4][9] They were each fined £A50 for serving alcohol in an unlicensed premises.[4] They continued as "Fiddes Brothers, acrobats and eccentric dancers from America",[a] and were engaged on the Tivoli circuit during 1936–37 and at Sydney Trocadero in July 1937,[12] and then other shows in rural New South Wales.[13]

By December 1937 Buster Fiddes was working solo and advertised himself as "Australia's youngest and funniest comedian".[14][15] From April to July 1938 he performed for George Sorlie's shows in Bathurst, Orange and Narromine in New South Wales and Mackay and Cairns, in Queensland.[16] He worked as a vocalist and comedian with Billy Heaton's troupe, which toured Western Australia from July[17] to August 1939,[18] supported by his straight man, John Carfax.[19][b] Fiddes and Carfax were heard on Perth's radio station 6PR in July, when they provided vocal duets at Piccadilly Theatre for a S.T.C. programme, which was broadcast.[22] The Mullewa Mail's reporter noticed, "The company was headed by [Fiddes], a young Australian comedian, who definitely has a future on the stage. His delivery and style are refreshingly novel and he shows twists of originality which should take him a long way."[18]

Fiddes married Iris Cattach of Perth in December 1939 in a "village smithy" wedding held in a public park, Campsie, New South Wales.[23][24] Cattach had been the ballet mistress with Billy Heaton's troupe earlier in that year.[18] Fiddes performed with his wife (under her maiden name) on the Tivoli Circuit, mostly in Melbourne, from 1941 to 1945.[25] Fiddes was associated with fellow Tivoli comedian, George Wallace.[5] From March to April 1945 the married couple both worked with Wallace in United Nations at Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane.[26] Fiddes was bashed and his face cut in November 1945 in Sydney, by three would-be thieves – he was treated in hospital.[27] The assailants were frightened off by Fiddes's dog, Jake.[27][28] Fiddes had found Jake in a Victorian country town in mid-1945 and subsequently trained him as a singing dog (see photo, above).[29]

Fiddes concluded a season of nation-wide radio programmes in early 1948,[29] before joining Will Mahoney's Yankee Pankee at Cremorne Theatre in May 1948 alongside "Mentalist Piddington", who used thought transference to read people's minds.[30] In Mahoney's next revue, Pleasure Bound at the Cremorne in July–August, Fiddes created "Kiddington", a satirical mind reading act.[31] He was partnered by Joan Wilson for an adagio dance and a skit of "Romeo and Juliet" in December at Jubilee Theatre, Toowong.[32][33] He was known from circus and "over the air" (radio).[5] The comedian relocated to London in 1953 and, for at least two years, he worked in Europe and the Middle East.[34][35] In June 1957 he performed Calypso Capers at the Tivoli, Sydney.[36] According to Frank van Straten Fiddess was a "circuit favourite in revue and pantomime for twenty-two years" up to May 1958.[16][35] Jonathan Bollen observed, "[he] was a successful pantomime dame in that longstanding tradition of cross-dressed comedy which maintained its popularity as holiday entertainment for children."[35]

Australia's regular television broadcasting began in 1956 and its first anniversary, in September 1957, was celebrated on TCN-9 with a "lavish production" starring Fiddess, Bobby Limb and Johnny O'Connor as well as "the entire cast of the then current Tivoli show".[37] Fiddess became a regular on The Bobby Limb Show from 1959 to 1961.[35] The comedian portrayed "female roles in theatrical spoofs such as Miss Anna from The King and I and Maid Marion in The Adventures of Rob’em Good [... and] an ageing Aunt Gladys in domestic sketches".[35] At the Logie Awards of 1961 he shared the Best Comedian award win with Limb, while The Bobby Limb Show won New South Wales' Most Popular Program.[38] Fiddess also appeared in other TV variety programs, Bandwagon (1959–1960),[39]: 16  In Melbourne Tonight, The Mobil Limb Show (1961–1964) and Here's Dawn (1964–1965). Later he undertook non-comedic, cameo roles on various TV drama series, Homicide, Matlock Police (both 1971), Spyforce and Boney (both 1972). Fiddess portrayed Charlie Jones in the thriller feature film, Wake in Fright (or Outback, 1971) and Mr Crawley in children's television short film, Caravan Holiday (1972).

Fiddess had performed for allied troops in October 1970, South Vietnam during the Vietnam War:

Veteran comedian Buster Fiddess was a big hit with a large group of troops when he performed at the 1st Australian Task Force Base (1ATF), at Nui Dat. He was a member of the Sydney Concert Party which toured Australian, and some American bases in the war zone this month. The concert party also included three female vocalists, Helen Noonan, Sylvia Raye and Mary-Jane Boyde and fourteen members of the Sydney ABC Show Band, with compère, Gordon Boyd.[40]

Buster Fiddess died suddenly on 14 January 1972 at his home in Collaroy, New South Wales.[1] He had portrayed the second ugly sister in a Cinderella pantomime at Rockdale Town Hall earlier that day.[1][3] He was survived by his wife and five children. On 6 February 1972, a benefit concert to assist his family was held at the State Theatre, Sydney. Stars taking part were Boyd, Limb, Tony Barber, Johnny Farnham, Maggie Fitzgibbon, Col Joye, Kamahl, Graham Kennedy, Dawn Lake, Johnny Lockwood, Little Pattie and Stuart Wagstaff.[2] A posthumous TV appearance in Carry On Spike in Australia was broadcast on Channel 9 on 20 March 1972. It was compèred by John Laws and starred Spike Milligan, supported by Ruth Cracknell and John Meillon.

Australian actor and writer Cul Cullen in November 1980 criticised television comedy shows, The Mavis Bramston Show and Kingswood Country and the character Norman Gunston as being unfunny, while opining "the ingredient most obviously missing from local comedy is good nature."[41] Cullen contrasted those comedians with Fiddess and Wallace, who provided "Australian comedy that was actually funny [... from] great natural comics, sadly no longer with us."[41] In 1984 television critic Phillip Adams reflected on the lack of comedic development in Australian TV humour after the mid-1960s and cited Fiddess and Wallace as innovative examples of that era.[42] Fellow Tivoli performer Val Jellay recalled in 1994 that Fiddess's "comedy combined travesty, disruption and visual gags".[43]: 57 

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ A similar assertion was made in newspaper adverts or articles of the time,[10][11] but may have been an attempt to improve their public profile.
  2. ↑ The real name of John Carfax was Hal Andrews,[20] under which name he performed with comedians Will and Dora Gilbert 1928–29.[21]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 "Veteran comedian dies suddenly". The Canberra Times. Vol. 46, no. 13, 019. ACT. 15 January 1972. p. 8. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. 1 2 Musgrove, Nan (9 February 1972). "Fiddess Benefit Show". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 39, no. 37. p. 21. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. 1 2 Richardson, Maggie (2024), "Chapter 4: Pantomime and Theatre Restaurants", The Sky Is not the Limit: Talent is Only the Beginning (Fifth ed.), [Maggie Richardson], ISBN 978-0-646-89785-1
  4. 1 2 3 "Heavy Fines for Club's Breach of Liquor Laws". The Sun. No. 8350. NSW. 7 October 1936. p. 20. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. 1 2 3 "Buster Fiddess to Appear". The Biz. No. 2828. NSW. 3 August 1960. p. 6. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Green Mill". Sunraysia Daily. Vol. 16, no. 131. Vic. 16 March 1936. p. 3. Retrieved 29 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "Five New Artists for Royal". The Telegraph, City Final Last Minute News. Qld. 2 July 1936. p. 24. Retrieved 27 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "Fun and Variety with 'the Jesters'". The Courier-Mail. No. 912. Qld. 1 August 1936. p. 24. Retrieved 27 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "Notorious Sly-Grog 'Shop'". Truth. No. 2440. NSW. 11 October 1936. p. 15. Retrieved 30 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia. n.b. accompanying photo depicts Joshua Fiddes.
  10. ↑ "Advertising". The Labor Daily. No. 3899. NSW. 4 June 1936. p. 11. Retrieved 29 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ "At the Pictures". Lithgow Mercury. NSW. 30 September 1937. p. 5. Retrieved 29 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "Caption". Truth. No. 2478. Sydney, NSW. 4 July 1937. p. 17. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia. n.b. Both "Fiddes Brothers" are pictured.
  13. ↑ "The Jolly K'nuts". National Advocate. Bathurst, NSW. 30 September 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ↑ "Advertising". The Katoomba Daily. Vol. 15, no. 222. NSW. 17 December 1937. p. 2. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ↑ "Flesh and Blood Challenge to Talkies". The Katoomba Daily. Vol. 15, no. 222. NSW. 17 December 1937. p. 1. Retrieved 6 September 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. 1 2 "Contributor: Buster Fiddes". AusStage. Retrieved 27 August 2026. Other Names: Buster Fiddis; Functions: Actor, Comedian, Performer, Acrobat; Related Contributors: Is related to Iris Fiddes (Comedian, Performer. Event Dates: 1945)
  17. ↑ "Heaton's Stage Shows". The Northern Producer and Morawa and District Advertiser. No. 550. Morawa, WA. 11 August 1939. p. 1. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. 1 2 3 "Vaudeville in Mullewa". The Mullewa Mail. Vol. 43, no. 2250. Mullewa, WA. 19 August 1939. p. 1. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ↑ "Entertainments". The West Australian. Vol. 55, no. 16, 536. WA. 3 July 1939. p. 12. Retrieved 6 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ↑ "No title". Sunday Times. No. 2428. WA. 27 August 1944. p. 8. Retrieved 6 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. ↑ "Local & General". Geraldton Guardian and Express. Vol. 1, no. 59. WA. 16 March 1929. p. 2. Retrieved 23 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. ↑ "New Artists on S.T.C. Programme". Sunday Times. No. 2164. Western Australia. 16 July 1939. p. 10. Retrieved 11 September 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. ↑ "No Title". The Sun News-Pictorial. No. 5376. Vic. 15 December 1939. p. 2. Retrieved 28 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia. Wearing a blacksmith's leather apron, Pastor C. J. Evans, of Manly, performed this legal wedding
  24. ↑ "Personal Notes and Obituaries". The Australasian. Vol. CXLVII, no. 4, 747. Vic. 23 December 1939. p. 19. Retrieved 28 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  25. ↑ "Contributor: Iris Cattach". AusStage. Retrieved 28 August 2026. Functions: Actor, Comedian, Soubrette
  26. ↑ "Event: United Notions". AusStage. 24 March 1945. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  27. 1 2 "City Thugs Get Three More; Actor Slashed". The Sun. No. 11, 164. NSW. 2 November 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  28. ↑ "Burlesque By Fiddes". Brisbane Telegraph. Last Race. Qld. 13 November 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 30 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  29. 1 2 "A Dog Who Can Sing". Brisbane Telegraph. Last Race. Qld. 10 November 1948. p. 5. Retrieved 12 September 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  30. ↑ Burns, Nelson (30 May 1948). "Mental Tricks". The Sunday Mail. No. 945. Qld. p. 5. Retrieved 12 September 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  31. ↑ Burns, Nelson (25 July 1948). "Stage satire on "mind readers"". The Sunday Mail. City Final. No. 953. Qld. p. 7. Retrieved 5 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  32. ↑ "Centaur Star Show To-night". Brisbane Telegraph. City Final. Queensland, Australia. 23 December 1948. p. 9. Retrieved 6 September 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  33. ↑ "Final: Centaur Show of 1948". Brisbane Telegraph. Qld. 21 December 1948. p. 6. Retrieved 6 September 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  34. ↑ "On the Grapevine". The Argus. The Argus Weekender. Vic. 3 September 1955. p. 5. Retrieved 28 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 Bollen, Jonathan (6 March 2011). "Buster Fiddess". jonathanbollen.net. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  36. ↑ "Event: Calypso Capers". AusStage. 5 June 1957. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  37. ↑ Musgrove, Nan (14 September 1966). "Ten Years of Television". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 34, no. 16. p. 32. Retrieved 28 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  38. ↑ "1961::". TV Week. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  39. ↑ Pinne, Peter (2007). "It Didn't Always Close on a Saturday Night" (PDF). On Stage. 8 (1): 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2026 – via National Library of Australia. Buster Fiddess rehearses for HSV-7's live weekly revue show, Bandwagon, 1960 n.b. Photo shows Fiddes standing beside a cardboard cut-out of a car. Two men stand at either end of the "car".
  40. ↑ "Nui Dat, South Vietnam. October 1970. Veteran Comedian Buster Fiddess Was a Big Hit with a Large ..." Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 27 August 2026.
  41. 1 2 "Culled Out!". The Australian Women's Weekly. Your TV Magazine. Vol. 48, no. 26. 26 November 1980. p. 31. Retrieved 4 September 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  42. ↑ Adams, Phillip (1 May 1984). "Evolution of the Meat Pie in the Face". The Bulletin. 104 (5414). John Haynes and J.F. Archibald: 62. ISSN 0007-4039.
  43. ↑ Jellay, Val (1994). Stagestruck: An Autobiography. Richmond, Melbourne: Spectrum. ISBN 0-86786-148-7.
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